Fighting crime from the ivory tower

I guess when you’re spending a lot of time marathoning The Closer and Law and Order, you also start to notice things like this. I’m not surprised the city isn’t safe – it’s not new. What I am surprised at is things like this:

I thought this was a known fact (or is it just because of television?).


C’mon paper! The headline sucks!! And apart from being sexist, are you saying that one day you’ll be able to say that the city is safe? Is there any city that is??

 

Recently acquired obsession

Via

For the lonely nights

Reading for the upcoming Tests/Interviews is the only time that I can brush up on my poor general knowledge. As I read on, I realize that there are so many interesting events going on.

1. AfPak situation: Obama is sending about 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan (in the next month, I guess.) And then about 4k later, for the elections. But what propels the Afghan crisis into a larger issue, which will be addressed at the NATO summit this weekend, is the Taliban-Pakistan relationship. The Taliban in Pakistan has already taken over the SWAT valley (NWFP region) and the tribal regions (FATA) as well.
But Pakistan has been brewing with internal conflicts as well. Its shaky government, threatening army and growing corruption have made it vulnerable to attacks.
Read more on it: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13382077

2. Economic Recession: I know zilch about it, but I know that it is important cause It is affecting us and blah blah. What I fail to understand is that how knowing the name of the RBI chairperson or the Fed Reserve person is going to help us. (at least in interviews!)
I cant understand why nobody took notice of Roubini and Krugman. Roubini, in a recent interview, said that we should make sure that the recession is U-shaped and not L-shaped like Japan's. Japan is also facing gloom; its finance minister resigned and now it is registering huge losses, more than States.

3. Indian Elections: I cant fathom that every few years these politicians rise and fall, and have the nerves to get up again. The third front, the UPA and the NDA!..I think there should be another option as "not worth it."
These days the wrong people are making the headlines for the wrong reasons:
-Varun Gandhi, for his extremely communal speech.
-Sanjay Dutt, for being unable to stand for elections from Lucknow.
-I also noticed that George Fernandes is standing as an independent candidate from Muzzafarpur, cause he has been chucked out of JD (u)...(there are so many political parties!..its hard to remember where they began and where they have ended up.)

Back to the grind

Back in Chennai, after a long stay in Delhi (with pauses of sadness in form of ill-health).
Spent five days in Nagapattinam, which is a Tsunami hit district in Tamil Nadu. We were covering stories there, like post Tsunami rehabilitation, NGOs, Self help groups, and education.
Was a good experience, but nothing like eye-opening or path-breaking!

Anyway,
Following are some good sites that are worth a watch:

http://abstrusegoose.com/
Funny graphics.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/
Immediate news. Faster than PTI

http://www.india-seminar.com/
Seminar magazine's online version. Has good articles.

A political Memory

Listening to : OLDER by George Michael
Waiting for: LOST!

Just browsing through the 1991 edition of Frontline, I came across the life of Rajeev Gandhi. Mostly pictures about his life, which were sadly preceded by the pictures of his death in the bomb blast.

Looking at the blast pictures, I was reminded of the very day. I reckon it was Sunday and very early morning. Woken up by loud shouts and the newspaper thrusted in my face, I saw the bold headlines (of Hindustan Times, I think) and bloody pictures of a body. I also remember a strong rush of feeling that passed me, even though I can't place the reason of it. I was about 6, I think. I can't imagine why such an event would trigger a feeling of any kind. Maybe I could conceptualize how important a Prime Minister was, or what it meant to be part of a country that lost its leader.

Even now when I looked at the gory and violent stricken pictures, I could feel the travesty and injustice. But that all changed when I saw the pictures that followed this story.

Rajeev Gandhi as a Prime Minister I can accept; but the fact that he is being remembered as a family man.. amidst a family, surrounded by his kids..makes him seem angelic and blameless. It will not make people forget that he was involved in Bofors. Or that his mother some years age had ordered the great emergency. Or what his brother did during the emergency... What benevolent images we create of our leaders when they pass.. A tainted memory, and a clean picture..people wish to colour the bad things that take place and remove it from their memory...escapism or putting it behind...its just distortion.